Queue for evacuation: Five people die at checkpoint in Vasylivka in a week

25.07.2022 22:36

Ukrinform

In a week, five people died in a huge queue at the checkpoint in Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia region, while waiting for permission to leave the territories captured by the Russian Federation.

"More than 1,200 cars are in a queue at the Russian checkpoint. Five thousand residents of the temporarily occupied territories try to leave. Five people died there in a week," Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov posted on Telegram.

Russians allow from 20 to 150 cars to drive through a checkpoint a day, but there are much more people willing to leave, so the queue grows every day. The invaders are already starting to demand bribes: people who pay extra UAH 1,000 get a chance to drive faster.

"Together with the central authorities, we called on the Russian side to organize a ‘green’ corridor," Fedorov noted.

Vasylivka is the only gate for residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions to the government-controlled territory.

As reported, according to Oleksandr Starukh, Head of Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, the occupiers do not let people drive through the checkpoint in Vasylivka to use them as human shield: behind their backs, the enemies redeploy equipment and personnel.